Bowed instruments

Bowed instruments these were known in Europe by the late 10th c. (see: bow), possibly earlier, if a carved ivory of the Carraud Collection in Florence is correctly dated. The earliest surviving *nyckelharpas have bodies in the shape of an 8, and it may be that they were bowed before the wheel of the organistrum was invented. The latter was also called lira, and an interesting theory has been put forward in this connection, namely that the “lira” (i.e., the true lyre) was perhaps rubbed later by…